Artist Statement
I sculpt the animal as a timeless archive, filed away amongst the traces of extinct species, the pests we despise, the animals we revere without knowing them, and those we invent to cope with our ancient fears.
The silhouette of these animals represents their physical presence as representatives of life on earth, and on their backs, the metal bones are like a ceremonial costume, a suit of armour, revealing the immortal and timeless part, forever a vestige, a relic of a bygone era.
Their skeleton is more than an anatomical remnant. It is a cultural language that our societies project onto the animal to sanctify it, accuse it or imagine it.
These creatures belong as much to biology and palaeontology as they do to myth. At the crossroads of the biological organism, the cultural resource and the object of human projection. They reveal how societies simultaneously construct and destroy the mythologies that narrate life on Earth.
What will remain of these species in thousands of years’ time? What place will humanity have accorded to the rest of Earth’s inhabitants? Which ones will enter the pantheon of life on Earth?
Biography
Virginie Gribouilli was born in France, raised by an amateur mammalogist mother and a grandmother who was a jeweller and an amateur artist. She studied applied arts to become a graphic designer and illustrator. Fate brought her into contact with cold porcelain and sculpture, and this definitively changed her professional goals.
In 2018, after successfully participating in exhibitions in France and Geneva, she won the People’s Choice Award at an exhibition in Ville-La Grand (74) and decided to pursue her art professionally.
She began to develop her own mythology and refine her style and approach. Through social media, she began to build a sincere and lasting relationship with her audience.
Selected to participate in the Art sur le fil exhibition in Alençon in 2022, she was a finalist for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize two years in a row (2022 and 2023). In 2023, she won the sculpture prize at the Salon de la petite mer in Riantec (56).
In 2024, she began exhibiting in galleries abroad: in New Zealand, Chicago, and California. She was also featured in the art book “Infected by Art,” volumes 13 and 14, and received an honorable mention at the 2024 Infected by Art Art Prize.
In 2025, she won the Susannah Kelly Art Award: “Artists of Great Potential,” which gave her the opportunity to exhibit in Portland, Oregon.
Her works were acquired by the Naia Museum in Rochefort-en-Terre (56).
Her work is now part of private collections in France and the United States, and is gradually being acquired internationally, thanks to the development of her digital presence and collaborations with players in the art market.
Editions
Infected by Art issue 13 -2024
Infected by Art issue 12 -2023
Beautiful Bizarre issue 40 – 2023
Art Prizes and Distinctions
Honorary prize at Infected by art competition for presenting Fox Osseus spiritus
Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2022- finalist
Press
Bored Panda : “This Artist Creates Porcelain Sculptures So Evocative They Feel Like Relics From Another World”
The Heroine journey of Virginie Gribouilli : interview
Beautiful Bizarre 2023 : “2023 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Finalists share their success stories”
Beautiful Bizarre 2022: “Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Finalists share their success stories”
Ouest france : Virginie Gribouilli, sculptrice, va exposer ses œuvres en Ille-et-Vilaine, à Chantepie
Ouest France : Virginie Gribouilli, lauréats de l’édition 2023
La Gazette du centre Morbihan : Cette artiste du Morbihan est en train de séduire le monde entier
Fragil.org Exposition Vestiges d’ailleurs de Virginie Gribouilli : “Créer, c’est donner vie, mais de manière figée”
NAIA Museum présentation de l’artiste
© 2018-2026 Virginie Gribouilli